Chapter 25 Main Quest: The Flame of Hope
Chapter Twenty-Five
The final echo?
The skill description was unclear, and after studying it for a long time without understanding it, Du Yu temporarily put the skill aside. Ultimately, that's a good thing.
Du Yu sensed it; although this body wasn't as strong as his previous one, it was no longer weak. After the black hole in his mental space was filled, he no longer felt his mental energy constantly draining away. He had never felt so strong since transmigrating.
Although there are still three question marks in the trait column, Yu Yu can vaguely sense that once this trait is unlocked, it will be more powerful than his original A-level trait.
A bowl was suddenly thrust in front of me.
Du Yu glanced down, somewhat speechless, and added another piece of meat to his plate. In just this short time, the man had already eaten nearly thirty pounds of meat!
What, does he also have the talent of gluttony?
Du Yu muttered to herself, "Although she's stingy, this man has given me a big gift. It's just ordinary mutated beast meat; he can have as much as he wants."
But he ate too fast; the two of them couldn't even finish grilling as quickly as he ate. She was getting annoyed with grilling, so she simply used a technique she had just mastered, found the link with Tian Yinuo, and sent a wisp of mental energy to her.
"How long will it take to grill like this? Why don't you set up two more grills and grill the meat using your mental energy? That would be good exercise too."
"Ah, but I don't know how...wait, I think I suddenly know how?"
Tian Yinuo stared wide-eyed at the sky, looking down in disbelief. A thin layer of golden light enveloped her palms. "It's like God spoke to me in my head, and I actually know how to do it!"
Du Yu stroked his chin and looked at the man in front of him who was engrossed in eating the grilled meat skin, while Tian Yinuo, who looked surprised, was asked to grill the meat.
Perhaps because he had eaten quite a bit of meat, the man seemed less dull. At least, he remembered to leave the bowl behind when he ate the meat.
Du Yu suddenly spoke up: "001? Is that your name?"
"...I...have no name..."
The man paused in his eating, his brow furrowed, and his eyes showed some pain, as if he was trying hard to think of something, but in the end he couldn't come up with an answer.
No name?
Du Yu remained outwardly calm, but began to ponder. After the divine fire was lit, she could see all the information about the 16 believers, some more and some less, but the man in front of her was the only exception.
Even in the most basic name field, there was a jumble of characters like "%*&#￥". The jumbled characters flashed for a long time before being crossed out as if to give in, and replaced with another number, "001", which was clearly not his real name.
The system even found out Cat Whiskers' real name, but it couldn't find any information about the man in front of it. What is his background?
After saying he didn't know, the man stared blankly for a moment, his eyes glazed over. Suddenly, he wrinkled his nose and said, "I don't like it. 001, name."
"Then you can call me Xiao Yi for now."
Du Yu named it hastily, and seeing the man eating without objection, she suppressed her doubts.
Although its origin is unknown, after the divine fire burned, the chains on Xiao Yi's feet seemed to disappear, but they were simply linked to Du Yu in a different form.
She considered it for a moment, deciding not to let the chain continue to absorb Xiao Yi's spirituality, but retaining control over Xiao Yi. Du Yu could sense that the chain used to only restrict Xiao Yi, but in her hands, it could be said that the chain completely controlled Xiao Yi's life and death.
She glanced lovingly at Xiao Yi, who, after a moment of surprise upon discovering the chain was gone, continued to bury her head in her meat. Being able to eat is a blessing; only when you're well-fed can you work better, right?
【drop--】
The system suddenly popped up a light screen in front of her eyes:
The divine fire has been lit, and the newborn gods have established themselves in the wilderness. But mortals, ignorant and foolish, have not yet glimpsed the glory of the gods; the unknown, shrouded in mist, covets their power. You have a long way to go to ascend to godhood.
[Player triggers main quest: A Spark of Hope]
[Task Requirements: Divine Name Spread (103/10000), Possession of the special building [Altar - Candle], Number of Followers (16/100), Number of Bishops (0/1), Special Item [Six-Star Holy Grail]]
【Quest Rewards: [Soul Fragment - History] Repair Bead *1, [Unknown], [Unknown], [Unknown]
[Mission Failure Result: Annihilation - You will meet your utter end along with all those who believe in you.]
Main quest? Du Yu's gaze swept over the quest requirements and landed squarely on the quest rewards.
The 【Soul Fragment - History】Repair Bead, even without a system explanation, has a vague intuition that it is used to repair the soul fragments in the petri dish.
Although the petri dish has the effect of repairing soul fragments, according to Du Yu's observation, this repair is a long-term process and cannot be accomplished overnight. Even the fragments in the best condition can only transmit vague consciousness during brief periods of lucidity.
As for Wen Xi, whom Du Yu cared about the most, she never woke up. 166 told Du Yu that Wen Xi's soul was the most severely damaged in the culture dish, and it might take more than ten years to recover.
Even so, she ignited her faith in Du Yu! Her faith was that of a "fanatic" with the highest level of devotion among believers!
Du Yu felt a tightness in her chest, as if someone was scraping her heart layer by layer with a scraper. Her gaze swept over the punishment for failing the mission without any ripple. She was determined to complete the mission and obtain the Soul Nourishing Pearl.
166 squatted on Xiao Yi's head, glanced disdainfully at Tian Yinuo who was busy grilling meat, and then looked at Du Yu with a more thoughtful expression.
He still had that same carefree attitude, but his eyes had changed.
166 It's hard to describe that change. If I had to, it's like a vagrant who used to ride his bicycle aimlessly in the wasteland, suddenly finding a target, pulling out a dump truck from somewhere, and roaring off towards anyone who gets in his way.
[Ding-dong~ Player has triggered a limited-time quest: Rescue the believers]
Du Yu suddenly snapped out of his daze and clicked on the newly triggered task.
...
"That despicable bald guy, he only does dirty tricks like sneak attacks, I spit on him!"
The girl, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages except for her mouth, spat out a curse. Her angry and disgusted tone suddenly softened. "Captain, I'm not going to live anyway. I'll stay here to cover the rear. You guys go first. As long as you're here, our group can stay."
"Shut up, I'm not dead yet, it's not your place to cover the retreat."
Shen Xijing glared at the girl fiercely, then quickly lowered her head so the girl wouldn't see her reddened eyes. She placed her hands lightly on the girl's legs, her fingers trembling.
Dark brown pus continued to seep from the edges of the bandage. Shen Xijing's face was pale, and the pink light emanating from her palms flickered erratically, barely managing to suppress the pus. The moment her palms shifted position, the pus gushed out even more.
"Hey, Sister Jingjing, as you know, it's already gotten to the point where black water is flowing out. Even if Lan Jin is there, he won't survive."
The girl tried her best to be optimistic, but her voice trembled slightly at the end. She pointed behind her and said bitterly, "It's better for us useless people to do something for the group. This is the only thing we can do."
The group is now hiding in an abandoned warehouse. The moon peeks curiously through the window, while tall shelves are hidden in the shadows, obscuring their figures.
Behind the girl lay two people, also covered in bandages. The girl could barely stand, but they lay stiffly in the shadows, their bandages soaked with putrid pus and loose.
"Quickly, you guys go and search over there. With a few burdens around, they can't have gone far!"
A voice came from afar. The woman, whose special ability was enhanced senses, turned her head slightly and urged with difficulty, "Lele is right. We're beyond saving now that we've been infected with [Black Corpse Oil]. They've caught up. Commander, make a decision quickly."
Normally, when the erosion reaches its final stage, even the doctors at Sacred Heart Hospital are helpless. But before that…
Shen Xijing's lips moved, she took a deep breath and forced herself to swallow, then turned to look at her side.
Cat Whiskers, now appearing as a seven or eight-year-old girl, saw Shen Xijing's gaze but didn't respond. Instead, she solemnly looked at the seriously injured team member, her childish voice unable to conceal the seriousness in her words:
"If there were a chance to cure the corpse oil now, the consequence might be a fate worse than death. Are you willing to accept that?"
A chance to cure the Black Corpse Oil? The woman who had just spoken spoke impatiently, her voice hoarse: "Captain, we've been able to endure the Black Corpse Oil for so long, what are we afraid of about living a life worse than death? Just tell us what you have to do. We won't blame you if we fail; it's all fate."
"Yes," "That's right," the other two agreed in succession. This [Black Corpse Oil] is said to be made from thousand-year-old ghouls. Just one drop is enough to make a person experience the pain of being devoured from the inside out, starting from the inside of their body.
Even among all the torturous tortures, drinking "black corpse oil" would rank in the top three. They had endured it for so long, and it was already worse than death for them. What else was there to be afraid of?
"The method I'm referring to is to pray to a new evil god."
Everyone fell silent: ...
That's something I need to think about carefully.
The youngest voice, that of the girl called "Lele," was the first to speak. She gripped Shen Xijing's hand tightly, as if making a decision, and spoke slowly and deliberately:
“Jingjing, tell me the prayer. If something strange happens after I recite it, bring those damn bald guys here.”
Sensing the girl's resolute determination to die, Shen Xijing felt a pang of pain in her heart. She met a pair of cold eyes filled with suppressed rage: "They killed my sister, and I will make them pay the price!"
The two people behind the girl were startled by Cat Whiskers' words, but they immediately agreed without hesitation.
Cat Whiskers told them the prayer, knowing that what moved them was not healing, but the desire for revenge after becoming a monster possessed by an evil god, and the helplessness and frustration that gnawed at her heart.
She knew that praying to an evil god was like asking a tiger for its skin, but because of her mistake, only three members of the entire pirate crew escaped. No matter the cost, she had to protect the remaining members.
"A time traveler eroding the rifts, a six-winged white dove devouring the riddles of time, a listener who hears from both ends..."
A deep voice echoed in the dilapidated warehouse, and Cat Whiskers silently repeated it in his mind. Because the three of them weren't very strong, they were assigned to stay behind.
Evil gods often favor powerful souls. After the three finished praying, she silently prayed: If the great Lord of Hearing is willing to help the three who have been corrupted by the Black Corpse Oil, she is willing to offer her soul a week later.
A clear, indescribable bell rang out, and Cat Whiskers knew that God had made his promise.
Purple flames suddenly erupted from the three of them, causing the pus to sizzle as it burned, but without harming their skin in the slightest.
Flames roared, their vibrant purple leaping and burning in the dim warehouse, illuminating the dark, despairing eyes—a flame of hope.
-----------------------
Author's Note: The initial setup is almost complete; it's time to get into the main storyline of this volume. w
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
